While I was brushing my teeth in the sanitary block I put the tap on and the water ran out... all over my feet! It wasn’t plumbed in! None of them were! Oh well, no big deal, the toilets are plumbed in thank god. No wonder they’re so clean looking, they’ve only just been built.
If I’m going to do some work there won’t be much to report so I might give the blog a rest for a few days and carry on again later. I’ll probably visit some immobliers (estate agents) in town too and get a closer look at some of those derelicts on the road in.
The lagoon
Now the campsite is about 700 yards from the beach (5 minute walk maybe). In between the campsite and the beach is a large expanse of inland water which I first thought to be a man made reservoir. On second inspection it turns out to be natural harbour which gets cut off from the sea when the tide goes out. A lagoon I believe they call it, right? All around it are sandy spots with people sunbathing. It’s far more appealing looking than the beach itself. I soon realised that the campsite has got 4, not very clearly marked gates right into it. One of which is just 30 seconds walk from my camp.
Jacey
So with the blog updated for the last 2 nights (not uploaded though), I set off with my towel under my arm. Half way across the lagoon I noticed a guy with a fishing rod inspecting a bag of stuff. I went over for a closer look. It turns out to be the security guard from last night. He didn’t recognise me at first, or even remember me even when I explained. Us white guys probably look all the same to them right? He spoke little more English than I do French. When I removed my shades and said “Landrover”.... “Ah! I remember yes!”. Jacey’s mother is Sicilian and his father from Ethiopia.
He hadn’t caught any fish but the bag was full of shellfish; welks to be precise. With the tide leaving they were easy pickings in the shallow water. Now finding shellfish is a favourite pastime of mine. Nothing more satisfying than cooking food you found or caught yourself. So we stood there in the shallow warm water for about 45 minutes, talking about all sorts of stuff. Most of the time I think neither of us was sure if we were engaged in the same conversation, but that didn’t matter. Clearly we were both enjoying the sun, the location and the task in hand; I, with my beer, him with his bottle of red wine (he reckons it helps keep the mosquitos away – or ‘mostique’ as they say in French).
Eventually I told him I was going to explore the rest of the beach and I’ll pass back this way in a couple of hours. The lagoon is just awesome, this spot is idyllic. You could even walk into Narbonne-plage (the town bit of the beach) in about 40 minutes, actually along the beach itself.
Thats Narbonne-plage in the distace
A note on language
When I returned I noticed he had two books on learning the English language, one with a picture of a welsh guard on the front (busby headgear and all). I laughed and plonked my French dictionary down alongside them. I was very pleased that he was learning English and mentioned that people learn it but then don’t want to use it. He said “but English people don’t want to learn our language. Why?”. Clearly I was seeing the other side of the argument here, and it seems a very reasonable point. I justified it to him by saying that English people travel in many countries and to learn every language in its entirety is a very tall order. In truth I was justifying it from my point of view but even then it felt like an excuse. I think the truth of the matter is more like this; Like it or not English IS the closest thing the world has to an international language. Attempts such as Esperanto have died and since most people have a basic understanding of English that’s simply the way it is. Now if a French person goes on holiday to Turkey, do they learn Turkish first? No, because they know they both have English as an international language. In short I think the French forget the reason they learn English is not out of respect for the English, but so they can travel in the rest of the world. I think it’s a source of irritation to the French though since for so long the two great nations have been on an equal footing in terms of world domination. Therefore as a mark of respect it’s especially important that English people in particular at least learn the basics. Having said that I’ve noticed during my many travels that you rarely see French people travelling in areas where they can’t speak the language (in other words mainly French and English speaking countries).
Later Jacey and I watched Germany demolish Englands chances of winning the world cup. Everyone else watching the telly in the cafe appeared to be German. Jacey said he was supporting England. No-one else seemed to be.
Squirrels and spiders
As I sit here updating the blog I’ve become aware of the source of a noise I’ve been hearing for a while. Frolicking in the trees above me are red squirrels. You don’t see them in England any more but there are at least two in the trees right above my tent and they both just jumped a clear 12 inch gap from one tree to another. There is also a very strange looking spider on my table. It’s tiny, about 7 millimeters across and it jumps. Now that is not unusual but this is; its third leg on each side is much thicker and longer than the others and every now and again it stops and lifts that leg and waves it in the air as if its sampling the air itself... via its leg. I keep blowing it away but it keeps re-appearing. It seems very aware of me. Every time I move, it darts behind something, really quick like. Its currently walking... actually running, along the power cable linking my laptop to my landrover.
The friendship exchange program
Jacey popped over later before he started worked. It occurred to me that he could make better use of Ferris’s space rocket than I could. I presented it to him explaining that it is only a small gift but it has a ‘grande histoire’ (a big story) attached to it. And now “...you are a part of that story”. However he must learn English better to understand the complete story. So then clearly as part of the friendship exchange program he said, “ok, then you must except this.... I won’t except no!”. Now what he presented me with in the priority stakes was without precedent. I’ve never even seen one before. If I had I would most certainly have bought it. It was a knife, similar to the Swiss army knife that we’ve all seen, only there is a spoon and a fork attached. When you open them up the two sides of the knife unlock and split apart so you can use them independently! How cool is that?? Clearly I’m not going to know how I survived without it! Ok, Ok... boys stuff! Can’t help feeling he got a raw deal here though.
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